During three successive seasons of calving (August to November 1999, January to April and August to November 2000) 69 fecal samples were collected from calves between 30 and 60 days of age presenting diarrhea, to account for the detection and prevalence of rotavirus. Samples were submited to an immunoenzymatic assay for rotavirus and adenovirus (kit EIARA-Fiocruz) and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). Of the 69 samples tested, 63.8% (44/69) were positive by EIARA. At the first calving season rotavirus was detected in feces from 14 of 17 calves (82.4%) with clinical signals of diarrhea. For the year 2000 seasons, rotavirus was detected in 5 of 12 (41.7%) and 25 of 40 (62.5%) of samples, respectively. The analysis of the eletrophoretic pattern of the positive samples showed four distinct group A rotavirus genome eletropherotypes.
rotavirus; calf; diarrhea; electropherotypes
